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When Microsoft debuted Games for Windows — Live eight years ago, the platform was cheered as a way for the company to use its considerable marketing clout to improve the visibility of PC gaming. Features like Xbox 360 cross-play, voice, and text chat were all touted. GfWL was supposed to serve as the common core for better PC gaming, and it came at a cost: $49.95 a year for PC owners (though Xbox 360 owners who already had Gold memberships received GfWL for free). The service was controversial from the beginning, and quickly established a reputation for being hard to use, flaky, and unpopular. In recent comments, Microsoft’s Phil Spencer acknowledged these issues, but reiterated that Microsoft wants to win back gamers’ trust.

In an interview with Gamesradar, Spencer claims to embrace the skepticism PC users might feel towards Microsoft on this front, saying, “When I stand there talking about it, I’m not showing any fancy videos. I’m not trying to pizzazz you with anything other than ‘Here’s where we are; here’s what we’re trying to do.’ And the SDKs are available now.”

The obvious question is whether Microsoft can make substantial inroads in gaming against the other 800-pound gorilla in the room: Steam. Flash back to 2007, and Steam is a vastly different beast — PC gaming had a much larger brick-and-mortar distribution system than it does today, and Steam was a fraction of its current size. Today, however, Steam owns the majority of the PC gaming market, but not all of it. Competing services from EA and Ubisoft have gained traction simply by refusing to offer their own products over Steam.

One of the most hated drop-downs in existence.

Spencer seems to envision such a future, though he tries to minimize any potential conflict. “If you’re an Xbox developer, there are some tools that we’re providing that allow you to seamlessly move from Xbox to PC – Xbox Live and the Universal App Platform will be helpful for those guys,” he said. This, I think, is at the root of Gabe’s push into Linux and the entire concept of a Steam Machine. Microsoft is beginning to wake up to the idea that it could exploit its position in the gaming market and tie PC and Xbox together into a single unified platform.

Virtual Reality and Kinect

Spencer goes on to say that Microsoft isn’t focused on offering a VR product at the moment, though it continues to talk to other vendors about how to offer VR content like Minecraft for third-party devices. Strictly from a hardware perspective, this makes perfect sense. The recent published specs for the Oculus Rift make it clear that the device is going to require some significant hardware to function well. Sony can talk about building Project Morpheus for the PS4, but it’s unlikely that the upcoming headset will match Oculus’s visual quality — not if the entire system is driven by the midrange Radeon and octa-core Jaguar configuration inside that console. The Xbox One, with even fewer GPU resources, would face a steeper uphill climb.

Peripherals like HoloLens are still being discussed for potential Xbox One integration. Spencer was quick to declare that Kinect isn’t dead, though it’s difficult to see how that’s not the case. Microsoft can make mouth noises about the platform’s long-term potential and the value of giving consumers a choice over whether to buy the hardware, but there’s a hard fact underlying all the pretty words: Making a Kinect-enabled game required a great deal of attention to the capabilities of the platform. Patching in support for a handful of motions or voice commands was much easier for developers, but it kept the peripheral strictly in “optional” territory.

Now that gamers have overwhelmingly chosen to buy Kinect-less systems, there’s no value in building titles that specifically leverage the hardware — you’d be limiting yourself to a fraction of the Xbox One’s total install base. Of all the features that might drive Xbox One forward or create cross-platform buzz, Kinect isn’t going to be one of them.

Tagged In

idk, i think microsoft needs to work with steam, not against.. (which in a way they arnt quite fighting them yet) so we shall see.. but if they worked together the two markets would be unstopable!… however they have very different ways of running businesses.. pluss they are competators.. i dont see this happening..

Daniel Glass

Well, the biggest advantage Win8 and later has is that it integrates the Xbox achievement system into Windows as API calls instead of requiring an extra overlay like GFWL or Ubisoft’s crap that launches whenever you want to play one of their titles on Steam, so it’s overall a trivial element in comparison to work with steam instead of as an annoyance this time around.

yesfull_man

well right off the bat they wont be directly competing

Protoss X

bro YOU LITERALLY can’t buy EA games or Ubisoft games on steam

thats fucking half the pc gaming market right there so steam is not fucking gettin those games so gtfo

FireFox Bancroft

No that’s not Half the PC gaming market. Stop with the hyperbole. There’s a lot more devs out there publishing to Steam other than EA and Ubisoft.

Also that wasn’t even what this discussion was about.

Daniel Glass

“bro YOU LITERALLY can’t buy … Ubisoft games on steam”
Soo, I don’t have multiple Ubisoft games that launch Uplay overlay in my Steam library? That news to m…wait, no, Far Cry 4 still launches just fine.

Plyphon

Competition is healthy for the industry. I’d rather see MS go up against Steam, than Steam have almost complete monopoly.

yesfull_man

they wont really.. origin ubisoft, gog.. pluss consoles

IKROWNI

While that is true is also an issue when it causes people to install 20 different programs to house games from different companies. I would much rather have a way to unify all my games into 1 system and have access to them all quick and easy.

Plyphon

Like a console?

Sorry, I jest. Unfortunately I think that is the nature of the beast to ensure a health PC market.

IKROWNI

A console doesn’t unify shit. There are how many consoles available? And how many games that aren’t compatible between each other?

The big difference is that with a pc its just software that is causing most of the fragmentation sometimes it’s a spot between Nvidia and AMD. For the most part is just a software issue though. You have multiple software plaudits because certain devs and publishers only want the game released on the platform they developed.

Consoles though there is hardware differences that causes the fragmentation. Which means it’s not an issue likely to be solved easily.

Mirimon

competition is healthy ONLY when it is honestly competitive…. not simply for the sake of calling it a competition.

andrewi

Steam has had God-Awful support ever since they made their first billion, and will continue to have god-awful support until they have competition. Hasn’t the last 10 years of generic Intel i7 CPUs with marginal performance updates taught you anything? Monopolies are bad for everyone, go Microsoft!

yesfull_man

they will have competition, they will join the console wars! lol also i do agree.. it is anoying to see them tac on an extra $100 for barely anything..(also this may change if direct x 12 does what it says it will do on multicore based cpus, amd might be competing again! finaly!)

FireFox Bancroft

Steam Machines are not consoles, they aren’t even being made by Valve, they’re being made by companies like Origin and CyberPower, in other words they’re PC’s. They use PC hardware stuffed into a small form factor chassis. And they can run Windows 7 or Valve’s build of Linux: SteamOS. Heck you can even dual-boot them and connect a mouse and keyboard.

They are PC’s for the living room, end of story.

yesfull_man

yes you are correct… however consoles are now litteraly pcs.. more closed in.. but pcs.. look at whats happening with microsoft consolanising windos and the reverse on xbox.. they asr combining the univcerse because the line between consoles and pc are slowly bluring… also steam machines are still an atempt to compete with the console world. they are console pcs.. but guess what thats all an xbox or ps4 is.. if someone could crack them and alow you to insall another os on it.. well you could install windows because it is basicaly an amd apu in there lol.

freddy_uk

anti competitive laws . plus MS Wants to have a store in windows to buy games from . in new win 10 ( i Think)

yesfull_man

anti competitive laws?

Kyle

The problem with Microsoft trying to appeal to PC gamers is that they’re doing so by pushing X-Box stuff to PC.

PC gamers aren’t X-Box gamers. They’re PC gamers. If they wanted to be X-Box gamers, they wouldn’t be PC gamers in the first place.

And yes, Origin and U-Play etc have gained traction. That isn’t because the users like them. They just want the propriety games that they can’t get on Steam. I use Origin for Battlefield 4, and I make sure it stays out of sight at ALL other times.

andrewi

But PC gamer’s friends are Xbox Gamers and vice versa, and the whole reason XBL was taking peoples bux when PS Network was free was basically Halo and friends anyway, so add more friends and you make it so Sony actually cannot offer the package you do. Well done Satya.

It’s not like there isn’t lots of people here that bought games because their friends play it, this is no different aside from this time it’ll be different platforms. It also really makes up for the difference in the number of console units out there because the fact is a lot of Xbox gamers bought a PS4 because the PS4 sales meant that they wouldn’t have many people to play with an Xbox. Now they have their PC friends. It’s still better than sharing exclusives, becasue it doesn’t completely remove any reason to get an Xbox.

Kyle

Yeah, but if they don’t share the exclusive titles, such as Halo, then all PC gamers get out of it is bloatware. PC gamers, at least the vast majority, do not care about having X-Box Achievements. They also do not wish to be part of an eco-system that is entirely designed to make them get an X-Box.

If they really wanted to make a splash in the PC gaming market, they would have to do two things, and do them consistently.

1: They would need to release major X-Box titles on PC after a set amount of time, such as a year.

2: They would need cross-platform multiplayer in those games between PC and X-Box.

That would be enough to pull some PC gamers into the X-Box ecosystem, but anything short of that is going to flop, and while this varies from PC gamer to PC gamer, possibly even teraflop.

Memphis Thugster

not gonna happen. you pc people are so thirsty for xbox games it’s not even funny.

Kyle

And you X-Box people love to troll. Seriously though, they need an incentive to draw people off of Steam, and aside from giving out free AAA titles around the clock, that’s going to require exclusives.

I don’t see where your point was. I’m a PC gamer who thinks Halo is a fun game. Sue me?

andrewi

Why would it pull PC gamers into the X-Box ecosystem? If anything the loss of gamers to PC will outstrip the gain understanding of the player made mods, inevitable graphical improvement and potential of offline game piracy (and resulting saving of cost) sinks into the Xbox playerbase.

EDIT: I am not encouraging/endorsing piracy, but as a CEO of Microsoft, you need to be laterally aware of the financial effects from all angles, moral or not. The reality is that piracy is as much a reason for MS’s sluggishness on supporting the PC gamer industry as anything else. seems you need a disclaimer whenever you mention the word these days.

Kyle

My apologies. After re-reading my own comment, I realized that I didn’t make that part clear.

I didn’t mean that it would pull PC gamers into the X-Box eco-system, but rather that if Microsoft wanted to get into the PC gaming market, that they couldn’t do it without offering something no one else already does. The only thing they have is exclusives.

As for piracy, that cannot be avoided without a decent multiplayer incentive.

andrewi

They have plenty of PC exclusive that they could use. It’s not as if a new Rise of Nations or Freelancer wouldn’t sell lots of users. Hell, buy The Sims. it sucks on console anyway.

Kyle

I can’t argue that I wouldn’t buy a new Rise of Nations. I loved that game.

I don’t think a couple exclusives would really work though. They need enough to really pull someone over. Besides, The Sims is EA’s franchise.

andrewi

I meant buy as in MSFT buying the IP, not you or I buying the game, but yes I agree largely.

I still think there’s a lot of IP that MS has and doesn’t use because it simply doesn’t know what to do with. Halo Wars could be a full franchise, Age of Empires needs a reboot, RoN, Perfect Dark, Banjo-Kazooie, Crackdown and Conker (of ‘Bad Fur Day’ and ‘Live and Reloaded’ fame) have no current games on PC and would be received well, Shadowrun, Beyond Good and Evil and Jade Empire would all have gamers lining up to buy them just based on the name itself, and that still leaves games like Brute Force, Blinx, and countless others to make sleeper hits with.

if Microsoft is lacking anything, it’s studios. They certainly have a huge back catalogue of viable IP.

Kidd

Gamers are gamers no matter what platform?

Jhollman

Steam is by far better than GfWL.

GMarsack

Yup, GFWL was/is an epic FAIL on the PC.I’m glad they are looking into making it better but seriously, I avoid anything associated with GFWL. It shouldn’t take so many steps to launch a game and require me to login to save my settings. Ugg, what were they thinking…

Probably not, I’m capable of installing an automatic update, insert my email address & following simple instructions. Some peeps simply throw out there dummy when something doesn’t work. I liked the idea of integration with Xbox on PC. This however is there last chance as the console market is dead.

Tom

As am I. Are we even talking about the same software, here? It was easily the most aggravating thing I can remember about quite a few games. Not to mention an awful UI.

Compare this to Steam’s integration features, which don’t get in the way at all. If they make the replacement GfWL as easy to ignore as those, it’ll be acceptable.

There is the difference, I enjoyed talking to my Xbox friends via GFWL & getting PC cheevos. Steam is nothing more than something that sells games. Also GFWL was not develop by the Xbox team it was something else. Of course Phil Spenser has learned from the past mistakes & peeps that have trouble installing software. Windows 10 & Xbox integration should be something to look forward to..

They stopped releasing games on the store but GFWL is still up & running. I’m playing Gears of War right now..

codeJunkie

I like Steam, but when they came out with the Steam console I was ready to boycott them. We don’t need another console platform. Xbox is “neat” but why build a box that you have to sell at a loss and hope you make up for it in sales, especially when the Xbox is nothing but a stripped down, closed ecosystem, hardware locked PC. Make the Xbox the upgradable PC that it could be and say bye-bye to the PS4. Xbox live should be platform that everyone can connect to and MS sells games and the Xbox for a reasonable profit.

andrewi

Because the Steam console is a PC. No changes. You can take it apart and upgrade the internals, or just steal bits and put them in other PCs.

You don’t understand the Xbox enough to make that statement. It simply would not work if it was upgradeable.

Mirimon

alienware alpha. it’s a steam machine, but not as upgradeable as you say..
the CPU can be upgraded, to a limited field of LGA1150 cpu’s.. the ram, again is limited by being laptop memory not only to speed and latency, but capacity. Then.. there is the graphics, which is a hard soldered mobile chip, that cannot be upgraded…
Sure, steam’s OS could simply be put on any pc, but steam machines themselves are simply too limiting especially when for the same price as the lowest tier machine you could build a mid-high range gaming desktop… and simply dl steam for free….

andrewi

A mini ITX PC is the same, and often comes with CPU soldered on, I don’t see your point.

Tom

> Make the Xbox the upgradable PC that it could be

You just described a Steam Machine. That’s all they are. Pretty-looking cases with PCs inside. You can MAKE your own Steam Machine simply by installing the OS on a bog standard computer.

When they announced Steam Machines I very nearly cheered. Would be great for gaming in general, pushing the PC into the living room in a more accessible way.

codeJunkie

It’s Linux, so it’s a horrible solution. Fragmenting the game platform even more. So now game devs have to build Xbox, Windows, Mac, AND Linux? F#ck that! Ever build a web page and have to make it display well across all the browsers? It is a nightmare to do. Now try to make that happen with an extreme game engine like what is used in Witcher 3… Expect the game price to jump another 20%.
If the Steam machine is just a PC then what is the point…

Linux is free. And a large selection of my over 500 steam games has a linux version and they play just fine. As for being a software developer myself, it’s pretty simple to take the code and re-compile it for another platform. The only catch would be if you’re using platform specific drivers like DirectX. But most engines also have OpenGL, etc. support so that’s still not an issue.

codeJunkie

Linux is free, and that is how it’s customer base like its products, free. Good luck with that business model. What was the last game that was cutting edge running OpenGL? How fast is that OpenGL platform development going?
Wow, 500 steam games. You have time to write code when?

Dlem

I always love it when people so passionately speak from a place of utter ignorance.

codeJunkie

Agreed

Kyle

Didn’t you just describe consoles? Pretty little cases with PCs inside? Oh, and a limiting OS.

I remember a friend of mine went to sell his old X-Box (original) to Gamestop a couple years ago. They said it was hacked and wouldn’t take it (he got it second-hand). He ended up giving it to me, so I decide to tear it down.

Everything inside was pretty standard to what would be found in a PC of that era. A little more glue, a little less friendly, and things seemed to be soldered on, but it was pretty average.

Dlem

No, he did not.

Kyle

Based on your response, I’m assuming I’m mistaken somewhere in what I said.

Could you elaborate on that so I can correct myself in the future?

Dlem

“Didn’t you just describe consoles? “

Setting the bar that low, a smartphone is also a PC, after all, it has a processor, RAM, a hard drive, and can process the same data a PC can.

Kyle

Well, yes. I would consider a smartphone a small computer as well. There’s a bit more similarity between a console and a steam machine though, in terms of what they can do, what they are used for, and what they are meant for.

The only real difference between a console and a steam machine is that the latter allows upgrades of the initial hardware if desired, and a more flexible OS.

Either you have no point, or I’m clearly not connecting the dots here, and I’ll feel like an idiot over it later. I know little of Steam machines except for hearsay, so that might be a contributing factor. I wasn’t disagreeing with the original commenter. I was simply adding on that the way he described it was humorously similar to the way one could describe a console.

Dlem

My point was made fairly clear in the last comment, a steam machine is not the same thing as a console, a console is a highly specialized architecture whereas a steam machine is off the rack hardware. A steam machine is a PC, a console is not. I don’t expect you’ll feel like an idiot later, it’s more likely you’ll disagree with me, but facts are facts.

Mirimon

well.. steam machines, like the alienware alpha, are not actually upgradeable…

Tom

More fool them and the people who buy them, they’re supposed to be upgradeable, that was kind of the point. I am aware of a few other brands which are “upgradeable” in spirit but probably not practical to do at all. Unlike a console though, you can *choose* whether or not you’re going to have an upgradeable machine or not. You can’t upgrade an Xbox console.

I reckon the most effective Steam Machine will comprise generic store-bought hardware and the only remarkable thing about it will be the case, which is designed to fit in with other AV equipment in the living room. Which of course means you can build one right now, basically, because we’re just describing an HTPC with a specific OS.

Conversely, in support of your earlier argument, rather than making Xbox an upgradeable PC, you could say that MS should just release the Xbox OS as something that can be installed on any machine. Not that it’s that simple (the headaches this would cause..!) but technically, it’s then an even competitor to Steam Machines, in that it exists both as an enclosed hardware platform and also one which runs on any hardware the user chooses.

Mirimon

Oh definitely.. i went with the solution of bot seeing any of it. Build a component cabinet into the house, sound and thermal insulation, filtered and climate controlled. It’s nice to only have to see the screen.

Steam is terrible, The Windows Store integrated with Xbox is where they should release all the First Party AAA games. Windows 10 will rock

Tom

The Windows Store? You mean that travesty you can access via the Metro UI on Windows 8/8.1? That will need some serious, serious decrapification before it’s a viable alternative to Steam.

I’m not sure what’s so terrible about Steam either, but would be genuinely interested to hear your thoughts as it’s not a very common opinion.

I agree that Win10 is looking good.

Dlem

Steam isn’t terrible, and you using such a strong word for whatever your perceived issues are with Steam only invalidates your opinion. Steam is the best thing to come to PC gaming in a great many years.

Neutrino .

Steam is the only DRM I know of that actively stops me playing the games I’ve actually paid for.

Anyone in my household is playing any game I’ve Family Shared with them I can’t even play another different game in my library.

That’s just downright abusive and is the main reason why I haven’t bought Ori and the Blind Forest, Endless Legends and City Skylines.

I have almost no faith that this tone deaf behemoth can improve their PC gaming fortunes… they are a crusty old dinosaur and I don’t know that even with Nadella shaking things up that they can get back on the right foot.

Scott

I wish developers would stop wasting resources on crap like 4K and VR. 4K may eventually take hold; but I think VR (at least with current tech) is DOA.

I’d much rather see GPU/CPU power put toward more interactive and dynamic environments. Games where everything like buildings, vehicles, terrain, water, light, and weather are dynamic physical simulations (interactive, destructible, constructable, lifelike). Also better AI so NPCs behave more intelligently.

I’d like to see the day where some aspects of gameplay are completely emergent; dynamics that result naturally from the simulation rather than the limited things the developer specifically programmed into the game.

It seems like every new generation emphasizes better visuals. That’s nice but I think games would be better if developers devoted more resources to other aspects of game play.

Scott

I’m sick of the proliferation of online services that don’t work together. I about lost my shit when I purchased Far Cry 3 on steam, and then realized I had to sign up for a UPlay account to play it.

I recently tried to play Fable 3 and got to re-experience what a pain GfWL is. No thanks.

I’m done with additional services. If I have to create another account I’m not going to play your game, no matter how good it may be.

Dlem

I completely agree with this and avoid said games like the plague they are. They’re obtrusive, unnecessary space/resource wasters that only serve to try to stick a marketing foot in your gaming door.

Asmodai

I’ll believe MS is serious about winning gamers back when ALL of their Xbox first party exclusives (Halo, Gears of War, Forza, etc.) launch simultaneously on Xbox One and Windows.

Steam is embracing Mac and Linux and making Steam Machine to combat the MS Store. Xbox One is locked to the MS Store only. Windows 10 Mobile is locked to MS Store only. When people have enough “Universal apps” they’ll be locked-in to Microsoft’s closed platform and not Steam.

HoloLens isn’t a peripheral. It’s a stand alone device that runs it’s own OS and doesn’t need to be connected to a PC or console.

BoltmanLives

Microsoft is definitely going after the following… Steam, Android , IOS and Oracle its a good thing! Windows 10 is the one OS to rule them all..Global Disruption at work sit back and enjoy the ride.

Bob

So your saying, Microsoft is Sauron, Win10 is the one ring. Steam is Frodo, Android is Sam, Gandolf is IOS and the rest of the followship is Oracle?

Are they taking Win10 to mount doom?

BoltmanLives

NO just “Global Industry Disruption” at work I’ve seen this before..they got this

Dlem

Way to wield buzz words and still manage to say nothing.

Dlem

This is a completely reasonable argument, if you are here to serve the gaming public stop with the console exclusives. I’m not saying MS doesn’t have a right to console exclusives, but they can’t say they’re super serious about PC gamers and then sideline them. The cognitive dissonance is astounding.

Paul Smith

> Xbox One is locked to the MS Store only.

It’s worse than that. XBox One is locked to the XBox One digital store; XBox 360 is locked to the XBox 360 digital store…

ace42

When it comes to GFWL being fubar I’m going to have a long memory. You want to win me back? Let’s hear about recompense for the games that no longer work because the service is dead and the lost “GFWL” points that vanished into the ether with that service. And let’s not hear about competing with Steam – a service I *like* using; compared to Origin / UPlay – services I resent being forced to use. We don’t need another shit proprietary Steamclone messing shit up.

I don’t understand this article.
It doesn’t seem to go anywhere.
And microsoft has been trying to cripple gaming on windows ever since they released the xbox.
They’re boasting the ability to stream xbone games to windows 10, as if that makes ANY sense.
Clueless…

Cookies

Care to back up your claims? I own both a gaming PC and an Xbox. One has never been “crippled” by the other.

You misunderstand me.
There is no direct effect xbox gaming can have on PC gaming. It is all indirect. For example, a game has limited graphics / controls / multiplayer / scale because it is the maximum the console can handle, or appeals better to the console audience, and the PC version is held to the same limits to prevent embarrassing how incapable the consoles (or the audience) are.
What I said was MS are the ones doing the crippling.
Here: http://www.neogaf.com/forum/showthread.php?p=100400267#post100400267

Purple-Stater

Xbox is hooked up in the living room, but you can sit in the bedroom, or out on the back deck, and play Xbox games on your laptop (or Windows tablet). You think that makes no sense?

Ah, I hadn’t considered it from the perspective of someone who didn’t invest in a PC for gaming, because that would be the device to stream games from.

Michael

sorry but microsoft has been saying that they want to win pc gamers back for over a decade now. i simply dont believe it.

talk is so cheap. How about you actually prove it microsoft. how about you release those xbox exclusives on the pc as well. i guarantee you people want to play halo on a pc. just like we could originally

Cookies

Releasing their exclusives to PC would kill their console. That’d be a stupid idea from both a business and marketing perspective.

Michael

why would it kill theirs consoles. people buy consoles to game in front of a large tv on a couch. how many people game on their pcs from the couch

your arguement is invalid

Cookies

A lot of people also buy consoles for their exclusives.

If I could buy Halo on PC, why would I buy an Xbox One to play it?

Exclusives are needed to drive console sales.

It’s the reason why I owned both a PS3 and an Xbox 360 instead of just one or the other.

I sincerely hope no one is so much of a consumer whore that they buy a console for one game… wait. 5 million people bought PS4s before it had /any/ games.

So what does videogames or console exclusives have to do with console sales? Because it seems to have ZERO BEARING WHATSOEVER. It is all about marketing.

Dlem

You don’t understand, they’re claiming to support PC gaming, but not in deed, only in rhetoric. Nobody is suggesting they cripple their business model, only that we don’t believe the rhetoric.

Mirimon

their console is dead, every one of them has been.. xbox is a loss leader for msft since inception… in fact, if they simply didn’t make an xbox ever msft would have higher profits…. no, publishing those few remaining exclusive titles to PC is actually wise, since they might actually sell…

and no.. nobody buys a $500 console, or even a $350 one just for 1-3 “exclusives”.. that is absurd… publishing to pc would not affect console sales at all, because those are already pc players, if anything it would help to recoup a bit more of the losses.

Cookies

First, the Xbox is a successful brand, and it’s well-alive.

Second, it’s more profitable to keep successful businesses alive instead of killing them, even if maintaining them costs money. That’s Business 101.

Third, profits aren’t everything. Brand image is very important, and the Xbox does well at that. Sony wouldn’t be the company it is today without the PlayStation.

Fourth, your argument makes no sense, since good console exclusives generally have good sales. They’re a factor in convincing people to choose one console over another.

Fifth, you have no evidence to back up that argument. You can’t claim that “nobody” buys a console for their exclusives as a fact.

Mirimon

again, the xbox brand is MSFT’s LOSS LEADER.. if it is LOSING them more money than they take in from it, constantly… how is that successful? it’s not, that’s just being hard headed….

Never head anybody say “well, I chose to get MSFT Office because I played an xbox game and liked it…”

I thought you knew better than to blindly follow their hype…

Mirimon

A success would be earning money, not losing it… msft has basically been pushing the xbox brand on life support. Srsly, take out the xbox and watch how much more nsft would have in their pockets. You can’t compare sony being afloat by the grace of playstation to this at all.

Here, if I have one kid sell cookies and nearly all of my profits come from baked goods then I am doing well. Another one of my kids is selling lemonade though. if it costs me $20 a day to keep his stand open, and he only brings in $2 bucks a day.. is that a success? Would it make sense to continue injecting 20 bucks a day into that stand, just to look like we are in that field of business? Surely you see the issue here?
the xbox has never been a profit, it can’t even cover its own operating costs… nobody thinks “well, they do sell lemonade… so their cookies must be good!).. msft’s core business has nothing to do with the xbox brand, if anything it is a detracter since it not only costs them, but still has a negative image to the public enough to drive down their stocks.

Simple existence neither makes a thing successful or “alive”…msft has spent more than a decade injecting money into the xbkx brand and has yet to see a positive return on it..perhaps there is a goal on the horizon, but any logical person would cut their losses, as they did with the Zune….

pelov lov

I would sooner make sweet love to a cactus than have anything to do with GfWL.

Where the hell has Spencer’s head been the last 10+ years?

SumGuy954

Steam has been a bit of a troll lately, screwing over a few gamers for selling their accounts. Banning people for the word pirate, hacked, to name a few. If steam keeps this up many of us gamers might be looking for an alternative. Its convenient not managing all those accounts and dvds. Its still gets tedious, but having steam, origin and uplay help keep it better organized is convenient.

MS is getting pretty scary too with what they did to those guys who leaked screen shots of a beta. We are no longer a prioity, just getting all our sales purchases is. Once you buy, your are screwed. The TOS has so many ways to screw us. Steam Has no customer service to speak of. My ticket is still unanswered, and there is no number to call. The only number out there just lets you leave a voice mail.

AdamRadzik22

Honestly, I fully support Microsoft for bricking the boxes of the dudes who leaked the screenshots. They, quite literally, had no right to do that and deserved to be punished. Like in every single business agreement, you don’t leak stuff until it’s ready to be put out.

SumGuy954

Most betas have a non disclosure agreement, but just about any of them have game play vids on you tube. Its one of the few things I have seen enforced until now. Those so called leak game play footage are what generates hype, which help sales.

The worst that should have happened to them was have the game they were testing pulled from them.

Purple-Stater

Get some old DOS and early Windows games working on it and I’m in. Otherwise, I really don’t care to get continual prompts about Xbox Live connectivity while trying to kill time with FreeCell and Mine Sweeper.

bmwman91

Seriously. X-COM UFO Defense and TFTD would be pure win if they got some bug fixes and maybe some small graphical improvements while maintaining the original difficulty and creepy ambiance (the new ones look great and all, but they have been “dumbed down” and just aren’t creepy like the old originals).

MR

The only two good things that have come from the Microsoft’s gaming department(s) I can think of are Age of Empires and Flight Simulator. Both successfully terminated.
I have a X360, bought on release day… found it last week in the loft, it’s been there for at least 4 years. Consoles just don’t appeal to me, sorry.

AdamRadzik22

I’m a gamer who has owned most consoles since Atari 2600, and am currently a PC gamer. Age of Empires stands as one of my most beloved series’ honestly. I put it up there with Mario, Zelda, Elder Scrolls and Castlevania. Overall, I’m sure I’ve put more hours into AoE than any single game ‘brand’ in history. I really, really hate how they quit AoE.

Id

Yeah AoE was pretty sweet back in the day.. There were so many crummy warcraft clones in the mid/late-90s, AoE stood out as distinctly different and impressive in many ways. MS just doesn’t care about PC gaming. Even now, this whole line of BS from Phil Spencer is a thinly-veiled attempt at marketing Xbox to PC Gamers, and nothing more.

RAMBO_III

We do not even trust Gaben – and now this p@thetic, phony clown wants to “win PC gamers back” ?
Fücking laughable.

Zepid

First way to win us back is by allowing all 1st party Xbox One titles to run on PC, natively, without owning an Xbox One.

Second is to allow 2-way streaming between a PC and Xbox One. I want to be able to play my desktop PC games on the Xbox One (like Steam Streaming or Nvidia’s Shield) and Xbox One games on my laptop.

Third way is to adjust your attitude towards the PC. Simple things like having plug and play drivers ready for your new XInput controller (something that by design of DirectX should be plug and play) rather than INTENTIONALLY disabling functionality of the Xbox One controller for a year or so before allowing it to recognize via opt-in drivers.

Mirimon

exactly.. but honestly, the DS4 makes for a better controller on pc, with it’s mousepad built-in it simply fits better with pc.

Zepid

That is objectively false. Microsoft’s controllers are XInput natively, which is an API built into DirectX. DS4/3/2/1 all require a wrapper to emulate xinput which means you don’t get raw analog control or pressure sensitive input. It is objectively inferior as a PC controller. It might be preferable for comfort though.

Mirimon

first of all, allow me to CORRECT YOU… xb1 controllers are not NATIVELY supported, it took nearly a year for them to function with PC….

In fact, you do not NOT.. need a wrapper to use mid-late model DS3 or the DS4 controller on PC, those in fact do function natively.

NOW… by using something like a “wrapper” such as DS4 windows, you get pretty much complete control of that dualshock 4 controller, how it rumbles, how it lights up and for what, sensitivity to pressure of buttons, mouse pad control, sensitivity, and options..it’s free, and offers way more than what one might get from simply plugging the thing in… Also, by having more buttons to use on the controller it inherently offers more ability to mapping..

as for objectivity.. when playing on a pc, isn’t it nice to simply slide that thumb over the built in pad to go through options and what have you? rather than reaching over for your mouse and keyboard again.. idk, could be opinion, but I would think people would want to juggle devices less when gaming…..

but lets be honest.. the 360 controller is still a better controller than the xb1 controller for pc…but seriously, actual native support, and comfort, more buttons to map AND mouse pad ability all in one? (lets not forget, this WILL work with any modern pc that has BT in it and is a much smoother, simpler solution than trying to make an xb1 controller work wireless with a PC…which is possible, but laborious, and not so easy to swap platforms with).
If objectivity is having more control with ACTUAL native function wired or WIRELESS, then sure.. “objective”…..

Zepid

No Xbox One and 360 controllers natively use XInput with their respective drivers. Sony has yet to put out such a driver. The controller requires a 3rd party XInput wrapper that turns the analog input of the DS3/4 into direct digital.

Lol.. you are simply spouting crap.. xb1 controller was not supported for pc use until recently… as it, it did NOT have native support (the controller itself required a firmware update to do this).

Again, mid to late model ds3, and the ds4 out of the box have built in drivers and are natively supported on pc.

You clearly haven’t used anything since the ps2 era…

Zepid

Drivers enabled the controller for PC, but it is an XInput native controller dude. DS3/DS4 aren’t XInput controllers. I have a Xbone controller in my PC right now and Visual Studio 2015 open and it recognizes as a native xinput device in the DirectX 11.2 stack.

Mirimon

Which is now… xb1 controllers did not function with pc at the starg and only do so recently. I know you hate to see anything contrary to your beleifs and all, but if you can’t handle the true why go looking for it?

Zepid

I’m shocked at your stupidity. Hardware drivers is different than API libraries. Sony does not support Xinput or DirectX with their hardware, end of story.

Mirimon

They actually do.. sorry your fantasy didn’t play out.

Quenepas

Im not sure why MS would not release Xbone games in PC. Mainstream people still would find PC gaming too complex and expensive so the Xbone could have it’s audience. They could also make crossplatform play possible now due to Continuity and (expectedly) more experience/resources on how to make this work. They could still charge for (not in PC) for Xbone LIVE if they offer more value like Sony with “free games” (only available if sub is current)… THese options are not rocket scence and everyone have thought about them but we all know how thick MS skull is and why they are always in last place of innovation: they are too conservative to take meaningful risks and always wait for somebody else to be the first in order to copy copy COPY… Their boring-ass office dweller pastel shirt and khaki pants mentality is their best asset for core business and worst for everything else. *cue twenty-somethings dancing with surface laptops*

freddy_uk

haha this guys has rage quit!

Kyle

Maybe if we’re lucky, they’ll see the error of their ways and release Age of Empires IV. Of course, it would have to be nothing like Age of Empires III.

Age of Empires I and II were the games that got me into computers in the first place. Age of Empires III killed the series because it tried to add additional game play features which were not necessary. The game play was properly fleshed out in I & II, but they felt the need to change it to justify the sequel.

That, and adding older Halo games to PC, would be a boost to their PC gaming status. Or, at the very least, it would suffice as CPR.

MS doesn’t have a clue what the hell they want to do. They created XNA a decade ago to support cross platform game development but then discontinued it, they created the festering heap that was GFWL (which is now thankfully dead). They ceased development of the only significant PC game they ever made (Flight Sim), but now they’ve bought Minecraft.

It’s the same on the app development front. They created Dotnet and WPF, but have left WPF to rot for years and are now all about pushing Windows 8 apps developed with a completely new platform called WinRT.

I haven’t heard anything that resembles a coherent strategy from Microsoft in years and this announcement doesn’t change that one bit. And a new DRM riddled crapware server with the MS stamp on it isn’t going to do anything to help PC gaming. The only thing that will help PC gaming is greater Linux support and more and more customers turning their backs on abusive DRM and supporting sites like GOG instead.

Three games that I would have bought this year already, ‘Endless Space’, ‘City Skylines’ and ‘Ori and the Blind Forest’. All come with Steam DRM which means that if anyone else in my household is playing any game in my Steam library I can’t play them. Let me repeat that. DRM implemented in such a way that I can’t even play the game I fcuking paid for!!!

I struggle to understand how anyone could have so little self-respect as to be prepared to sign up and pay for the shit that we as PC gamers have been getting from games developers for years now. But what I’m fairly sure of is that it’s the behaviour of developers that is doing more to drive piracy than anything else and that it’s certainly losing them goodwill and most likely losing them money too.

If MS could get half as good as Steam and learn from places like GOG, they’d make it happen… but I can’t see them ever getting rid of DRM like GOG, nor can I see them being a nice base for Indy publishers like Steam.

But we can dream.

IKROWNI

Really is nice to finally see Tech sites starting to admit that there is very very very little chance of even a crap version of VR coming to either console.

VR coming down the pipes in the next few months. How many more years until the new consoles come out with the barely capable hardware to finally run VR?

I could see the PS5 and XBOX 2 rolling VR equivalent to the oculus DK1 in 7 1/2 years when they are released.

Mirimon

why do you bother? self proclaimed pc elitist who likely couldn’t play minesweeper on his rig, let alone VR….

You do understand that morpheus isn’t ran only from the ps4 hardware, the breakout box takes off much of the load (something pc could learn from if they want VR to do more than go straight to the graveyard, because the min requirements to run OR and the vive are heavy, and costly…), just as well their 3d sound solution (which originated with the morpheus and is better there as well) is silly on the CB revision… while the resolution is higher on OR, they have failed at increasing frame rate beyond 90 fps, as well as screen door effect is still there, just blurrier… to top it all off, it still feels like crap…5- 10 minutes of play before inducing pain due to a lack of ergonomics… haha.. that’s just silly.

As is rift will be DOA, unless they can reduce the minimum requirements, resolve the screen door issue, and become significantly more comfortable less than 1% of pc gamers will get it..

Paul Smith

Well, considering the fact that I can’t even access my Xbox Store content from LAST YEAR on the Xbox One, even though the games have been ported, I’d say that Microsoft is a hell of a long way from competing with Steam on digital content…

lopo

They need to make cross platform online gameplay for every game they have on xbox.
And lose this crap of a thing they have on console that you need to pay for online play.
Whats the point to pay for online. It’s not like they give you that 100+ mb speed connection. You need to have good connection before you get console and then pay to get to play games in online. All game developers think that if games will be cross platform, then everyone on pc will cheat and so on. Thats just stupid.
Actualy i dont care about xbox cross platform games, cause none of my friends have xbox. My friends are working off country and they have ps4’s. If games would be cross platform i could get to play more with them and there for can communicate with my friends more then we do trough skype or other social network software/web page.

Dirt box

They’ve said this every year since 2005 and they’ve done nothing. And they won’t do anything this time either. We don’t need them anyway, valve has it covered.

Memphis Thugster

beggars, beggars everywhere.

FireFox Bancroft

I feel like we’ve been here before.

onstrike112

I wish publishers would just publish games where you launch them from the START screen/menu instead of some stupid launcher that no one really wants, but is forced to have. Valve’s Steam (like any other launcher like it) is nothing more than an annoyance that has to run in the background, while eating precious system resources that could be focused on GAMING instead of running a crappy launcher.

Gaikang

They killed off all of their gaming studios.

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